Seven Days in Paradise
by Austin B
Summary: Things are happening. The island was changing her, and she knew it. The question now is,can sheuse what she knows to help the others, before she needs someone to help her? JK SOC Mystery, Romance, ActionAdventure, Suspense...a little bit of everything.
1. Day 1 To Wake The Sleeping

Just so you know, I don't own LOST or any characters besides Cherry and Eva.

J/K S/OC

Things are happening. The island was changing her, and she knew it. The question now is,can sheuse what she knows to help the others, before she needs someone to help her?

**Seven Days in Paradise**

**_"To Wake The Sleeping"_**

The sun was dimmed momentarily by the screen of thin clouds that passed slowly before it. Cherry glared around the camp. "No good lazy jerks..." She growled under her breath. Oh sure, they were all real eager to help, but when they heard the task Jack, Kate, and Sayid needed help with was going into the jungle to find a high point for the transceiver, everyone was 'otherwise engaged'. Boone and Locke were already in the jungle hunting, so they were excluded from her curses. But all the others were just good for nothing whiners.

She stormed, as best as she could, through the people, purposely kicking sand on Shannon's exposed belly as she lay, tanning. Cherry smirked and didn't look back as she heard the disgruntled beach bum shouting choice words after her.

"I'll come." Cherry announced, planting herself in front of Jack, who was quietly discussing their plan of action with Sayid. Jack glanced at her.

"Who are you?" The question in any other voice than his would no doubt have sounded harsh and rude. But Jack's gentle demeanor emanated his good intentions, and Cherry was rather not offended but drawn in by his soft, strong voice and deep brown eyes.

"I'm Sam Parker, and I'm apparently the only one with balls enough to help you guys."

"Oh, okay." Jack replied, taken aback by her anger, though it was not directed toward him. "Grab a bottle of water and a blanket. It'll be an overnight trip." Cherry nodded, and made her way to the other end of camp, to where she'd staked her claim of beach.

"Where you headed, Sam?" Eva asked. The kind old lady was sitting in the shade, making use of Cherry's knitting needles she said she'd found and given her.

"I'm gonna help Sayid and Jack set up the transceiver so we can get the hell off this island."

"Well, be careful sweetie. And don't let the doctor get himself hurt. We need him around here."

"I know, Eve, I know. Don't worry 'bout me, I'll be fine." Cherry crouched beside her once she'd packed her bag, and kissed the old woman's cheek, flashing her a brave smile before returning to Jack. Kate had appeared there, set with her bag as well, and the typical stoic expression masking her worries.

"This is Sam. She's volunteered to go with us. This is Kate." Jack introduced them.

"I know." Cherry replied, with a half grin.

The silence annoyed her, as they clawed and crunched their way through the brush up the shallow incline. No one had spoken for at least a half hour. So, she took it upon herself to lighten the mood, which she sensed was far too heavy and worried.

"So, Kate, you got a boyfriend in the real world?" She began nonchalantly, her voice startling her companions in the silence of the jungle. Kate glanced back at her with a smile before looking ahead and answering.

"Nope. How about you?" She asked, and Cherry smiled knowingly, noticing how Kate had turned the situation from being interrogated to being the interrogator. Don't judge a person by the answers, but by the questions. It told her a lot about Kate's personality.

"No, me neither, happy to say. Men just screw things up." Cherry commented, eliciting a glare of sarcastic displeasure from Jack. "Except for Jack, I'm sure. Speaking of, you tied down, doc?"

She heard Jack chuckle. "No, Sam, I'm not. I find that women just do more damage than they're worth." Cherry heard the smile in his voice, and she and Sayid burst into laughter, while Kate scoffed with a grin and punched him lightly in the leg. Jack mocked hurt and limped for a few steps. But their playful banter was interrupted by a loud crack of thunder that echoed through the air and seemed to shake the ground they stood on. Kate stumbled on the crevices of the ground in her momentary surprise and was thrown backward down the low slope onto Cherry, who toppled over under her weight, and they rolled down the hill over one another.

Cherry lay on her back, with Kate lying on one of her arms. Laughter was at the tip of her tongue. But it was quelled by an intense coldness that took her breath away. Suddenly, it felt as if she'd stepped off the desert island into a snowstorm. Even from the inside of her, she was chilled.

Jack and Sayid bounded down to them and knelt beside them. Kate stood, but Cherry lay there still. She felt as if she moved her limbs, they would break off. But, she saw Sayid's face over her, and she lifted her head to look up the hill between his legs. There, a large boulder had come loose from the mountainside and started rolling quickly down to them. Her eyes grew large, and she opened her mouth to speak, but there was nothing there. Sayid and Jack held her arms, and they lifted her up, her eyes still glued on the rock that was tumbling toward them. It grew larger and larger as it came closer and closer. The noise of it tumbling and bouncing off the hillside was deafening, but none of the others seemed to hear it.

"Move!" She shouted, but they just looked in confusion at her. "Get out of the way!" She shrieked, but they acted like they didn't understand. She herded Jack and Kate to the left, away from the path of the boulder, dragging Sayid behind by his wrist. But, the rumbling of the rolling stone passed behind her, and suddenly, Sayid's wrist was no longer in her grasp. She stilled, her face in terror, and slowly turned. Sayid lay on his stomach on the grass, his arms reaching out toward her feet, his fingers clawing at the grass. The boulder left a sickening trail of blood on the grass, after it had passed over his legs, and taken them with it as it crashed off into the trees.

Cherry bolted upright, sending an ear piercing scream from the bottom of her lungs into the air. Jack, Kate and…Sayid stood over her.

"It's okay, Sam. You just got knocked out." Jack cooed. Cherry stared into the face of the Iraqi whose maiming she'd just witnessed.

"But you…Sayid…I saw you. The boulder it…" She trailed off, unable to comprehend that what she had seen wasn't real.

"What boulder?" Sayid asked, concerned.

"I could've sworn I-" She started, but was cut off by another loud crack of thunder. All four of their faces turned up the hillside, and witnessed the bolt of lightning dance from above the treetops and strike the rocky mountain. A large chunk of rock was loosened, and it toppled over its jagged edges down toward them.

"That boulder…" Cherry whispered to herself as Sayid picked her up by her arms and started herding them all to the left. "No." She whispered again, realizing what would come of this situation if something wasn't done. So, she spun around Sayid and gave him a great shove. Despite his own strength, he was hurled forward into Jack and Kate. Cherry looked at the boulder, her eyes widened. It was already so close. By the time her brain sent the message to her legs to jump out of the way, it would have rolled over her.

So, in her shock, she stood still, knowing any effort to save herself would be futile. But, the boulder was only about three feet away, and rolling remarkably fast, when she felt a great blow to her back, plowing her over to the left, out of the path of the boulder. The wind was momentarily knocked out of her as she lie face first in the dirt, with the weight of another person on top of her.

"Sam!" She heard Kate call, and she was rolled over onto her back. Her eyes struggled to focus, and the blurry image of four faces standing over her came into clear view. She smiled faintly, seeing Sayid standing on his own two legs, alive and well, if not a bit concerned. And the new face, the face of the man who'd tackled her, not so gently, out of the path of certain death. His hair hung around his face as he leaned over her, framing his expression of fear and concern. He huffed and puffed from exertion, staring intently at her, waiting to know if she was really okay.

She grunted as she attempted to sit up, and felt four different pairs of hands on her, helping her. She blnked a few times in shocked disbelief before she cracked her neck and stretched her back.

"Whew. Close call." She quipped nonchalantly, eliciting scoffs of amazed delight. "I believe I have you to thank for that gallant rescue."

He grinned triumphantly, and Cherry noted the dimples that appeared. He opened his mouth to speak, but Kate's voice was heard instead.

"What're you doing out here, Sawyer?"

"I'm savin this girl's hide, what does it look like?" He scowled at the other three, who were looking suspiciously at him. Cherry furrowed her brow. He'd just saved her life and they were questioning why he was here? "Okay, so the Michelin Man guilted me into helping out. He has a way with words. And, it looks like it's a good thing I came." He said, turning his eyes onto Cherry, whose gaze was glued to him. "What's your name anyway, sweetheart?"

"Cherry." She answered immediately, grinning.

"Cherry?" Jack repeated quizzically from behind her. Sawyer watched her eyes widen in fear.

"Uh, I mean Sam. My name is…Sam." She covered, but not very well. Both Jack and Kate silently resolved to question her about that when they returned to camp.

"How did you know? About the boulder?" Sayid asked quietly from behind Kate, in a hushed tone that showed his amazement and confusion. Cherry just looked at him for a moment.

"I'm not sure. I saw it all…and then I woke up and it hadn't happened. Yet."

"It was probably just a weird coincidence." Jack said quickly. "We've got to get the transceiver up to the top of that hill quick before it starts pouring on us. You okay to keep going?" He asked Cherry, who nodded.

But, as they climbed above the treetops, the sky was not as dark and clouded with storm clouds as the thunder they'd heard and the lightning they'd seen had indicated. It was, in fact, a clear, blue sky, with not a cloud in sight. They stood upon the summit of the steep hill, while Sayid fiddled with his gadget. There was silence among the group for that time, in which each thought individually on the occurrences of the day, and the clear sky which defied the sounds they heard, but none voiced their concerns or suspicions. A lot of strange things had happened on this island. It was probably just a fluke of weather. There may be a storm in the distance, or on the other side of the mountain, where they could not see the full expanse of the sky. But what about that strange prediction Cherry had made?

Sawyer had been typically irritating the entire climb, and now that Sayid concluded there would be no signal here, and they had begun their trek back to camp, he was not showing any signs of relenting. It was perfectly clear the other four wished for silence to ponder as they walked, but Sawyer would not grant them such a pleasure. He chatted, seemingly to himself, about anything and everything. Asking them random questions and getting no answers, but he did not let it hinder him. Even the usually carefree Cherry was feeling her patience wear thin. The enchantment she'd felt when first laying eyes on his handsome face and hearing the southern twang in his voice was quickly dissipating.

Thankfully, Cherry was able to tune him out for a while, and escaped this jungle wasteland by letting her thoughts wander back home. Where there was real food, real bed and blankets, running water…and family. But the memory of home that pervaded was not a happy one as she'd wished.

"_Is it back?" Cherry asked, wringing her hands as she abruptly stopped pacing the hospital room upon hearing the door open, yielding the doctor, with a clipboard in hand._

"_Well, this test was inconclusive, but I would feel better if you took the drive up to Midland to get an MRI."_

"_Oh, God." Cherry sighed, plopping with a crunch onto the seat covered in sanitary paper. Her mother, who'd been standing quietly near the wall, set a hand on her shoulder._

"_Cherry, baby, don't worry yet. It might be nothing."_

"_I told you not to call me that!" Cherry snapped. _

"_Fine. Sam. Calm down." Her mother demanded, irritated at her daughter's immediate pessimism, and her sudden and tiring sensitivity to the name she'd called her all her life._

"_I could die." Cherry sniffled in exasperation._

"_Sam, I don't want you to stress about this, it could just make things worse. There might not be anything at all, but I want you to get some more extensive tests as a precaution." Dr. Seward cooed in the doctor voice Cherry knew so well._

_Cherry breathed deeply, with her mother's hand rubbing soothing circles on her back, and slowly nodded, knowing deep in her that this was the end._

They'd made it back to camp within the hour, and were rewarded with a helping of fresh boar Locke and Boone had returned with. Their excursion had taken most of the day, and the sun was about a half hour from being completely hidden under the horizon. Cherry strolled over to the space she'd claimed as her own, to find Eva there, knitting, as usual.

"Ah, I see you've come back in one piece."

"Didn't I say I would?" She grinned deviously.

"And the others?"

"They're all fine. Sayid had a close call. I guess I did, too. But a guy named Sawyer followed us and sort of saved me."

"Oh. Sawyer, you say? Saved you? H'm…strange."

"Why is that so strange?"

"You haven't heard about him?" Eva asked incredulously, and Cherry just slowly shook her head in naivety, so Eva enlightened her on Sawyer's deeds. Cherry's brow furrowed deeper and deeper as she listened to Eva's surprisingly extensive knowledge on the Southerner.

She had no idea the things people were capable of just by looking at them. His charming looks were deceiving. He was a liar and a cheater and a horrible person. Cherry realized just how little she knew about the people she was in such close proximity with. Any of them could be rapists or pedophiles or murderous psychopaths. So, she resolved to learn a bit more about everyone. There were only, what, like 44 others besides herself and Eva. It wouldn't be too hard. That way, she could determine if anyone was a real threat, and in that case, distance herself from that person or persons and if need be, alert Jack of the situation. He'd know what to do in that case. Everyone, herself included, would be safer and sleep a little better at night, considering.

Good plan, Cherry, she congratulated herself, feeling good already about the deed she'd do. But not tonight, she thought, snuggling further under the sparse airplane blanket. She was just going to forget about what had happened earlier, with the blackout and the boulder. Perhaps when the sun rose, she would have an answer. After all, tomorrow's awhole new day.

* * *

Just an idea I had and ran with. It is finished, and has seven chapters. Though they're pretty long, I think. Tell me what you think about how I portray the chatacters, the plot, suggestions...anything.

To come: Seeing things in the jungle, confrontations with everyone's favorite Southerner, and more on Cherry...er...I mean Sam's tragic past.

Reviews will be greatly appreciated and heavily rewarded.

PS Can you believe Boone is dead! I was soooo sad. I was in suspense the entire episode. Is Boone going or are they going to pull a fast one and kill Clairein childbirth? I'm glad she had her baby and he's fine. : )

Good things,  
-Austin B.


	2. Day 2 The Delusional Prophecies

Day 2

"The Delusional Prophecies"

After an uncomfortable night sleeping on the beach, Cherry stretched languorously. A smile immediately came to her lips and she sprung up to catch a bite of breakfast and set her plan into action. She began warily with a large gentlemen whom she'd heard called Hurley. He was jovial and funny, and Cherry decided right away that she liked him immensely, and he was just about the furthest thing from dangerous on the face of the planet. So, as much as she regretted, she took her leave of him to move onto the next potential threat.

Forty four may be a small number on paper, but around twenty, Cherry realized just how many names and faces it was. She ran through them all in her head, trying to remember the ones she'd red flagged as maybe's and to return to later. She found it near impossible. Her memory was never very good. Especially now, under all this stress.

So, she sighed and decided it was alright to quit for today. It was already past noon, and she felt like she'd done a great job with her day. There was always tomorrow to pick up where she'd left off. So, she sat on the beach and watched the waves for a while, but found it boring. Her feet were wiggling uncontrollably, and her body was energetic. She stood, and was immediately taken to the edge of the jungle. The beach held the same view. Sand and waves. Big deal. The forest was so diverse. The plants and animals.

_Monsters. _The little voice in the back of her mind whispered, but she squashed it immediately. There was no monster. If she was careful, she'd be able to avoid any threat. She wouldn't go that far, anyway.

She grinned when she crossed the definite border from the beach into the jungle. She felt like a rebel. It was an unspoken rule for no one to go into the jungle. The beach dwellers were terrified of the invisible monster that lurked there. Cherry scoffed inwardly. Cowards. The jungle was so beautiful, how could it be dangerous? Flowers and vines hung from the trees, and the leaves were so green in the golden light of the setting sun.

Wait, the setting sun? It hadn't been that low when she'd entered. Had she really spent that much time here? Oh well, at least she wasn't sitting on the beach, bored to death. As much as she loved the jungle scenery, and truly believed it was beautiful, there was no monster, she desperately did not want to be stuck there in the dark. So, she turned to return to the beach. But a movement in front of her stopped her dead in her tracks. There, two feet from where she stood was a snake. It slithered once more toward her, and she jumped back. It was completely black, but for a white underbelly that was exposed when it lifted its upper body in position to strike.

Cherry's breath was still, her mouth and eyes wide, as a dozen more identical snakes slithered into her presence, covering the jungle floor. She turned around, but they were there, too. All of them, showing her their white underbellies, tongues flicking. Her breath became ragged, and she panicked. She had to get out of there. As stupid of a thing as it was, she ran, right through the sea of snakes. Through her panic, she noted how she did not have to weave through them, and she did not set her sneakers on one of them. It was as if they moved for her to pass through.

She ran frenzied through the trees, a random branch whipped her in the face, and she stopped to clutch her hand to her cheek. Blood reddened her fingers, and she continued to the beach.

* * *

"Snakes, you say?" Jack repeated skeptically as he doled out a dose of medicine to some guy named Scott. Or maybe it was Steve, Cherry couldn't remember. But it didn't matter.

"Yeah, hundreds of them." She confirmed

"Look, Sam…err…Cherry, whatever your name is…I've been meaning to ask you about that, anyway-"

"That's not important." She cut him off, not wishing to go into the subject of her personal life. "This island is snake infested. I am not kidding. What if they're poisonous? They could slither onto the beach and bite someone in their sleep. And then they'd die!"

"What do you want me to do about it? Honestly." Jack asked, stopping his rounds through the beach dwellers to face her.

"I don't know. I just figured…you know, you've kind of got all the answers." She admitted, realizing maybe putting this on his shoulders was a mistake. He did have a lot to deal with. Jack scoffed.

"Far from it."

"You coulda fooled me. You've done a good job of taking care of us so far."

"Well, I think if the snakes wanted to come and bite someone on the beach, they'd have done it by now. They're probably more scared of us than we are of them, anyway."

"That's what my mom said about spiders when I was five, and then I got bit."

"You probably deserved it." Jack quipped, with a hint of a grin tugging at his lips as he took her face in his hands to clean the cut he'd noticed on her face. Cherry's jaw dropped.

"I did not! It made a nest in my Barbie's hair, what was I supposed to do?"

Jack just shook his head with a smile and a shrug, as he stood close to her, holding her face still.

Cherry clenched her jaw, feigning anger. "Fine. You win. But if someone gets bit by a snake and dies, you can't say I didn't warn you."

"Noted." Jack chuckled as she left his presence.

Cherry huffed as she lay down beneath her blanket, fully aware of Eva sitting nearby, her knitting coming along nicely, laid on her knee. Her presence was comforting. She reminded Cherry a lot of her mother. That may be why she trusted Eva with so much. That may be why she chose to station herself near her, and took to talking with her, sharing with her so much. Cherry stared at the crystal clear sky. The stars twinkled, standing out against the deep blackness of space. Sleep was hard to come by of late. There was a lot going on in her mind when she lay down and was given a moment's silence to think deeply.

_The drive to Midland was rough. It was hard keeping her mind from wandering on all the possibilities. Of course, all of them were grim and terrible in her mind. She glanced up at the T.V, which was set on the animal planet channel, with a special on pretty black and white snakes, and chewed absentmindedly on her nails, until her mother playfully socked her arm and gave her a glare. Cherry smiled momentarily, but the sound of the door opening on the far side of the room sent her heart into her throat._

"_Samantha Harker." The nurse called, and Cherry swallowed hard before she and her mother entered the examination room. She was laid on the table in a gown and slowly moved into the large metal tube. It was a feeling she'd carry with her forever. The most hated feeling. To be helpless. To be poked and prodded, and told what was wrong with you. That there was a chance you would die. The sounds of the machine working and taking pictures rang in her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut, and tears drizzled from the corners of her eyes into her ears._

"I saw the way you looked at him. After he saved you." Kate's voice was heard from behind her, but Cherry chose to ignore her, since she knew who the other woman was referring to. "He's bad news. I don't want to see you getting hurt. Because it's inevitable if you get involved with him." Kate was becoming impatient. She did not take well to being ignored. "Cherry!" As soon as the exclamation left her mouth, Cherry spun around, instantly furious.

"What did you call me?" She snapped. Kate raised her eyebrows in momentary surprise, all irritation gone. She opened her mouth to answer, but Cherry interrupted. "Don't ever call me that again. EVER." She demanded, over pronouncing. The anger that burned in her eyes was no surprise to Kate, considering the tone of her voice, but the sadness was.

"Someone must have called you that a lot, for you to give it as your name without thinking." Kate said after a moment of considering the angry woman staring at her, waiting for her to leave. Cherry had leaned forward, and now she stepped back, her anger replaced by an uncaring façade. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

"Why can't you leave well enough alone? It's just a name."

"Exactly. It's just a name. So why not tell me why you gave Sawyer a different name than you gave the rest of us."

Cherry looked into her eyes. Kate's breath was taken away by what she saw there. A pain so deep Kate couldn't help but completely forget the angry confusion and felt only sympathy. Though she was not yet aware of the reason for her sympathy, it did not lessen the feeling, for she knew there had to have been a tragic incident to cause such a scar on her soul.

"It's not something I enjoy talking about." Cherry said shortly.

'If I wasn't allowed to keep my secret from Jack, you can't keep your secret from me.'

Cherry scoffed. "What goes on between you and Jack is none of my business. I'm not going to give in to you. And keep asking all you want, but some things are better left unsaid."

Kate furrowed her brow. "What goes on between me and Jack?" She repeated, confused.

"I don't know how he got you to tell him your secret, but I won't cave to you. Try all you want, I won't cave to you or anybody else for that matter." Cherry turned to walk away.

"Sam!" Kate called after her. There was an urgency in her voice that was uncharacteristic of her, and it made Cherry suspicious. She turned slowly back to her. "I didn't say that."

"Say what?" Cherry spat.

"About Jack. I never said that." Kate continued, unfazed by Cherry's disdain.

"But I heard you." Cherry breathed, trying to smile in the face of the confusion that Kate was slowly making her realize.

Kate shook her head slowly, a painful understanding painting absolute and utter speechlessness on her face.

* * *

Thanks reviewers! You don't know how encouraging it is to know people actually read the stuff that comes out of my head. I appreciate you all! Review again!

**Eclypse, Lillywriter, Orlando's Hot Chick, FluteMarcher**

Believe me, there will be some major Jack/Kate interaction soon.

I still miss Boone.

As ever  
Austin B.


	3. Day 3 House of Cards

Day 3  
"House of Cards"

After many 'just forget about it's', and 'it's nothing's', Cherry managed to wave off her conversation with Kate the day before. She wasn't sure if the suspicious woman really bought her act, so Cherry tried very hard to avoid her, and continued her quest to relieve herself the worry of living with strangers.

She'd thanked Boone, and watched him walk away with a raised brow and a smirk when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She reluctantly tore her eyes from the rescinding man and her eyes fell upon another. Though his eyes were not as enchanting as the former, those dimples could not be beat.

"Don't I get to be interviewed now?"

"What are you talking about, interview?"

"Oh please, you know what I mean. I see what you're doing. Pretty smart, if I do say so myself. We shouldn't live on an island full of strangers. You can never tell a dangerous person just by lookin at 'em."

"That's exactly what I thought." Cherry agreed, and the faintest thought that maybe he wasn't as bad as everyone thought sprung into her mind.

"You can get to know me real well. I got a tent up yonder we can go and talk."

Scratch that. "No thanks." She replied after a moment of furrowing her brow at him. "I already know you more than I'd like to." She grimaced slightly at his innuendo.

Sawyer's jaw dropped in a mixture of shock and feigned anger. "Don't tell me you believe all the island gossip. Don't you want to get to know your rescuer a little better?"

Cherry had scoffed and opened her mouth to make a witty comment right back at him, when a breeze so cold washed over her. The same breeze ruffled Sawyer's hair, but he seemed to take no heed of its freezing temperature. Her eyes narrowed as she concentrated her gaze on the blue eyes of the man standing in front of her, whom had now become a bit wary of her silent staring. It seemed as if her entire field of vision was filled by those blue orbs, and through them, in the reflection of them, she saw a scene play before her, tinted sky blue.

_He was young. Leaning his back against a wall somewhere. His head hung, tears falling onto his shirt as he carefully wrote a letter with a ballpoint pen onto notebook paper. It began: Dear Mr. Sawyer…_

_He was still growing. A younger, more carefree version of the Sawyer she knew now. Smiling that dimpled smile at a woman at a bar somewhere. She held up her wedding ring, but he just grinned and brought her hand to his lips._

_He was older. His face pained as he dropped the briefcase on the floor and left the house of the family he had been planning to ruin. The pain and resoluteness in his eyes as he left that house told her everything. She understood all these memories she saw in him. Somehow, it was as if she had lived his life with him. There, in the shadows, she'd seen and known all his thoughts and secrets._

Her balance was gone, and she saw Sawyer's face disappear from her vision and then there was only the sky. Her back hit something softly, and Sawyer was there again for a moment. Until her eyes rolled back in her head.

"Cherry! Wha?…Jack! Somebody get the doctor!" Sawyer shouted as he lowered her slowly to the ground and attempted rouse the unconscious woman. In a flash, Jack was by her side as well. He lifted her eyelids and felt her pulse.

"She passed out." He concluded, mostly to himself, sounding relieved that she did not have a more serious condition. But Sawyer was not relieved by Jack's relaxation to Cherry's situation. No, in fact, he was all the more worried. The look in her eyes as she stared at him, before she crumpled to the ground, told him something was wrong. And the fact that Jack couldn't see it, in all his medical expertise, frightened him even more. Because if Jack can't fix it, who could?

_Her mother was good at making her forget her worries. But this time it was different. They stayed at a nearby motel as the test were processed. Her mother chatted idly and lightly as Cherry toweled off her hair, not really listening. She felt numb. Like it wasn't really real. She prayed it was a dream. When she should've been thinking about what was going to happen in the future, when she should've been listening to her mother talk about her options, she was praying it was all a bad, bad dream._

_But the pain in her arm from the needles and IV's reminded her just how real it was. _

"_Cherry?" Her mother called. Cherry snapped her gaze to her._

"_Huh? What? Sorry, I was kind of zoned for a sec."_

"_I just asked what you wanted for supper. Does Chinese sound alright?"_

"_Yeah, Chinese is fine, mom." Cherry acquiesced politely, and a moment later, as her mother was looking over the take-out menu, "And don't call me that."_

_Her mother just looked at her a moment before looking down again. The phone rang. Both women stared at it for a second before Cherry walked to it and slowly picked it up to her ear._

_He didn't speak. He didn't have to. Cherry knew what he would say. She knew it was him before he knew she had answered the phone. A flurry of emotions washed over her, and her knuckles turned white on the receiver. Pity and sadness prevailed. She recognized it easily, for the first time she was diagnosed, she was consumed with grief. But she had not felt any pity this time. Only exhaustion. And hopelessness. _

_No, it was he that pitied her._

_Dots appeared before her, and her eyes rolled back in her head. The death grip on the receiver loosened, until it slipped through her fingers onto the ground, and she teetered over backward, barely missing the bed and crashing with a loud thump to the floor. Her mother screamed. Dr. Jacobs shouted through the phone to them. But neither could hear._

She opened her eyes to be greeted with the blue tarp of a tent above her. Her brow furrowed involuntarily in confusion. How had she gotten here? She sat up with a grunt, and looked around her as the recollection came. She must have looked immensely worried, because Jack held her shoulders in his hands and asked with much concern if she was okay.

"Oh, yeah, I feel fine I suppose. If not a little confused."

"You were on the beach talking to Sawyer and passed out."

"Yeah, I know that part. But I don't know why. I've passed out once before in my life, and here I am, twice in two days."

"Well, nourishment on the island is a little hard to come by. Are you sure you've been eating well enough and drinking lots of water?" Cherry nodded fervently. "Stress and another particular incident coupled with some other condition may cause blackouts in those who aren't normally prone to them." His brown eyes bored into her. He'd only just met her, and he was so concerned for her. It was mystifying, the depth of his kindness. "Did something happen on the beach?" He asked warily, evidently with a suspicion that Sawyer had done something to her.

Cherry thought before answering. Should she tell him that she saw something in Sawyer's eyes? He'd probably think she was insane.

"No. I was talking to Sawyer, and I just suddenly lost all my balance."

It was clear Jack did not believe her, but he did not contest, either. He simply went on to ask about another possibility. "Do you have some other condition I should know about?"

Once again, Cherry paused. Most of the time, people that learned of her condition for the first time were put off. Afraid to be around her. Afraid they'd infect her or break her. But, he was a doctor. Maybe he could help. Maybe he could tell her what was wrong with her.

That was what she had thought about all the doctors.

_Cherry bit her nails. Her mother's arm wrapped around her as they sat, once again, in an exam room, on that annoyingly loud paper that covered the seat so you wouldn't contaminate it. Cherry started as the doctor entered, a stack of X ray sheets in his hand._

"_Hello Samantha." He said with a smile, but she did not return it, or say anything at all. Cherry's mother spoke for her, instead._

"_Hello Dr. Jacobs."_

"_Mrs. Harker." He greeted her, and stuck a few of the X rays onto the board so they could look at them together. Cherry stared absentmindedly at the pictures of her insides. There was her arms, her legs, her torso, and her head. Dr. Jacobs had begun babbling some doctor talk. All of which Cherry understood, unfortunately, from having heard it so many times. Cherry sighed. He was beating around the bush. And from the apologetic look in his eyes, his point was not going to be favorable._

"_Where is it this time?" She breathed tiredly. _

"No." She stared Jack in the eye and answered calmly.

Cherry meandered back to her place in camp. She passed by Eva, who was grunting and struggling to stand. Cherry sat down on her blanket for a moment, before noticing her. She jumped up and helped the older woman stand.

"Sorry, Eve. You got it?"

"Yeah, thanks sweetheart." Eva considered her for a moment. "Something on your mind?"

"Besides the fact that we're stranded on a desert island with virtually no hope of rescue?" She began cynically. "Yeah, actually there is."

Eva sat down again, with much less difficulty than rising. Cherry sat in front of her, their cross legged knees touching.

"You see, I sometimes know too much about people. I don't want to know these things, but I just do."

"People's secrets are often the only things that tell you the truth about them."

"I don't want to know the truth about them. I want to be pleasantly oblivious just like everybody else."

"Maybe you can use the information you have for some good. Maybe their secrets are painful to keep. If no one else knows, no one else could know how to help."

"How could I possibly help them?"

"That's what you have to figure out, dear."

* * *

**Orlando's Hot Chick** - You're on my msn list now! Get on sometime and we'll talk about Legolas and Jack and Sawyer and all that good stuff!

**Skyblue266** - Fear not, there will be some heavy Jack/Kate interaction. And in LOST hope, there will be, too. I'm a J/K girl, what can I say? I can't really help it.

**Eclypse** - Well, I read somewhere that in the season finale, Sayid 'ATTEMPTS' to murder Locke, so I'm thinking maybe he just shoots him and he doesn't really die. I'm hoping, anyway, because without Locke, I'm afraid the castaways wouldn't really get food, and then they'd die.  
Also, aHaiku for Boone:

You had pretty eyes  
And slept with your step sister  
But I love you still

**Piper45** - you're not slow. It will be explained in time.

**Flute Marcher** - We all miss Boone, it's okay to manifest your grief into art. Heck, Eclypse even wrote a eulogy and had a memorial service for him.

**A Wandering Minstrel** - Cherry will get her hug, believe me. She's trying to persuade me about the chocolate part, but I'm unconvinced.

Austin B.


	4. Day 4 Secrets Revealed

Day 4  
"Secrets Revealed"

Her former plan to alleviate the worries of living on an island with strangers was forgotten. There was a new mystery to ponder on. The fate of her life.

Cherry had made a point to distance herself from the others, if only for a few hours, to think things through. People distracted her. And, it seemed, whenever she was around people in close proximity, she passed out, and… Okay, so there were two mysteries to ponder on. What exactly was happening to her?

Twice now, she'd seen things. From Sayid, she saw him lose his legs to a boulder. From Sawyer, she saw his life, his past.

Jack almost had her convinced that the first time was a weird coincidence. A fluke. But, it had happened twice now. What was she supposed to think?

"Kate!" Jack called, as he jogged up behind her.

"Yeah, Jack. What is it?"

"I'm starting to worry about Sam." Kate waited, knowing he'd explain further without having to ask. "She's passed out twice now, and yesterday she told me she saw hundreds of snakes in the jungle, just lying at her feet."

"Well, it is a tropical island. There's bound to be snakes." Kate reasoned, choosing not to inform Jack of her strange encounter with the woman in question the day before just yet. Not until she made some sense of it herself.

"There's a college biology professor at the caves. I described to him the snakes Sam said she saw. It's impossible for that species of snake to be here. They live in marshes, not tropical islands."

"What do you think?"

"I think she's delusional. She says she's eating and staying hydrated, but she won't tell me anything else that would cause her to pass out and…see these things."

"So why are you telling me?" She asked, suddenly realizing there was a definite need for suspicion.

"I was hoping you'd keep an eye on her for me."

"You want me to baby sit."

"No. I just want you to make sure she's eating and drinking water and staying out of the sun. Kate, I'm away at the caves most of the day. You're here at the beach with her, what would it hurt?"

"Haven't you ever thought that I have better things to do than play your nurse for a woman I can't do anything for?" Kate asked, barely keeping the volume of her voice in check.

"You don't have to watch her every moment of the day. Just check in with her once or twice. Please. Kate?" His voice retained the pleading softness, and the kindness he always held. She grit her teeth and shook her head so he wouldn't think he could get to her so easy.

"Fine." She snapped, and flashed him a smile before turning away.

* * *

"I saw the way you looked at me. What happened to you on the beach today?" 

Cherry started at the sound of Sawyer's voice from behind her. She refused to turn her head and look at him as he stood beside her. "Even if I knew, which I don't, I'm not sure I'd want to tell you."

"Why not?"

"I know what you do with people's secrets." She answered quietly. Sawyer walked in front of her, so she was forced to look into his eyes.

"You think you know so much about me?" He asked, with dangerous rage in his voice and face. But, there was something in Cherry that made him leave his anger behind. "You didn't even interview me." He added with a grin. But Cherry was not amused.

"Not in the way you'd expect."

He furrowed his brow in confusion. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know what, I'm not even sure. I'm not sure about anything anymore."

"Apparently not even your own name."

Cherry breathed deeply, half exasperated. Why was he throwing so many issues at her at once?

"So what is your name?"

"Sam."

"Why'd u tell me it was Cherry?"

"Habit, I guess. That was all anyone in my home town would call me until I was twelve years old."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure. It's just a nickname my dad gave me when I was little. But only my mother calls me that now."

_Dr. Jacobs hesitated. "It's developed into a tumor. In your brain. Unfortunately, it must have been developing for a time, judging by its size. And its position, wedged between your right and left frontal lobes renders it…inoperable."_

_The drive home was quick. Without even thinking, she was home, and throwing clothes frantically into a suitcase. Her mother pushed the door open softly._

"_What are you doing?"_

"_I'm leaving."_

"_Why? You have to start treatment."_

"_I can't do it again, mom. The chemo, the nausea, the wigs. I can't. I need to get away from it. I need to run away. For once in my life, let me run away from my problems. I'll deal with it later."_

_Only when she was thousands of miles away, in a hotel room in Sydney, did she breathe a sigh of relief, and smile. _

_She sat softly on her bed and hesitantly picked up the phone, twirling the cord in her fingers once she'd dialed the numbers. She sighed, when she heard her mother's voice on the answering machine._

"_I know I'm not your favorite person right now. And I also know you're listening to my voice on the machine, deciding whether to pick up the phone and yell at me, or just ignore the fight. I know you're crying, because no matter how mad and worried I make you, you still love me. You must be scared to death. I'm so sorry for taking off like that. I'm sorry for doing this to you. But I'm okay, I just needed to get away for a day or two and take a break…a vacation. I'll come back and start treatment on Wednesday, I promise. I love you mom. More than anything."_

The sun was setting. Sawyer had long since left her. She'd shut him out, stopped answering his questions. And, as she knew he would, he got bored and left. Cherry was glad. He seemed too eager to pry into her secrets. That was the last thing she wanted. But, it seemed her secret wanted to get out, since blackouts seemed to attack her every time she turned around.

But, the sun was setting. So, she meandered back toward the people. And with every step she took, their clamor grew louder. She stopped for a moment and listened. They seemed unusually loud tonight. Every word was recognizable, even from a great distance. A voice was clear, and she sought out its owner. The Korean woman. She was having a conversation with Walt. He was speaking slowly and clearly to her, and she smiled and nodded.

'I understand. Your dog went down the beach that way.' Her voice said in perfect English. But her lips did not move. She just pointed down the beach.

Cherry's eyes leapt around, and every person she set them on, she heard their voice. And their lips never matched their words. She heard things they said, that they weren't really saying.

Her breathing shallowed, and she stepped away from them with her left foot. And then her right, before turning around and running, fast and hard. Soon, her labored breathing and heart thumping was all she heard, and she collapsed onto the cool sand, looking up at the colored sky.

"What was that?" She whispered to herself.

* * *

Let me get this straight. The season finale is NOT next Wednesday the 27th? For the love of everything that is Holy, I don't think I can wait any more. I'm probably the most impatient person on earth right now. Anyway, thanks for humoring me on this story, guys, i know it's not quiteup to par. If any of you have not read my other LOST story, LOST hope, it is written much better and is far more interesting. 

Some LOST stories that are wonderful and I suggest you all go read immediately :  
_**Formal Wear  
A Christmas Carol**_

**A Wandering Minstrel** - Now you know.

**Freckles-101** - Good to see I can keep you on the edge of your computer chair.

**Dark-Angel206** - In time, you will know all, grasshopper. This chapter was a big piece of the puzzle, but there's still more. I wouldn't reveal this big thing so early if there wasn't more…

**Skyblue266** - OH YEAH, that's what I like to see; Excited reviewers like yourself!

**Flute Marcher** - Cherry keeps me in the dark on some things, still. She's a secretive person.

**Moon's Tear** - Thanks, Sawyer's characterization was something I'm always worried about. He's a complex guy.

**Eclypse** - Alas, it has been revealed. But what next? Only time will tell.

Austin B.


	5. Day 5 Trouble in Paradise

Day 5  
"Trouble in Paradise"

_She liked sitting by the fountain, watching people pass by. A thousand lives, being carried out right in front of her. A constant stream of people flowed along the sidewalk. But an aperture in the flow gave her a view to the other side of the narrow way, where a man stood. Watching her. He smiled, and on his lips she read him call her, "Cherry."_

_She stood, and blinked as people passed in front of her. He was gone. Cherry sat again, dumbstruck. _

"_Oh, dad." She whispered sadly, setting her face in her hands._

Cherry was not heard from until mid day. Kate was beginning to worry Jack had misplaced the responsibility of keeping an eye on her, since she was not doing a very good job.

It did not take her a very long walk to catch up with her. She was sitting on a log a way down the beach from camp.

"Mind if I sit?" She asked cheerfully. Cherry looked up at her, and Kate read the worry in her eyes and on her face, before she smiled.

"I'd be offended if you didn't."

"How are you?"

"A little confused, a little worried. But other than that, I'm A OK." Cherry said with a grin. Kate opened her mouth to ask another question, but Cherry answered it. "Yes I am eating and yes I'm staying hydrated. You tell Jack that, and tell him to quit worrying about my health."

Kate eyed her warily. Cherry smiled.

"That one was pretty much a given."

Kate grinned and looked away. She had to admit, Jack was somewhat of a predictable man when it came to doting on those around him.

"It's my sanity he should be worried about." Kate furrowed her brow at this unexpected statement. "Kate, I think I'm going crazy. I see crazy things, and I know they're crazy, but that doesn't change the fact that I see them, I see them real in front of me. And I hear crazy things. Things that aren't really being said out loud. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I think I do."

"I don't know what to do. Please, tell me what to do." Cherry begged her.

"I'm in no position to be giving advice on someone else's crisis. I just know that you should tell Jack about it. Maybe it's a medical condition and he can do something to help."

"No one can help me." She whispered painfully. Kate just looked at her with sad eyes. But, Cherry disdainfully shoved herself up off the log and trudged to find Jack, anyway.

She had to ask a few people, and walk around a bit, all the while concentrating hard on her own voice repeating his name over and over, to drown out all the other voices that begrudgingly hadn't gone away, but she found him. Bent over someone, looking into their eyes to diagnose their ailment. Cherry smiled. He gave them some remedy and sent them away. Cherry was about to let him know of her presence when another came scurrying up from somewhere. She looked in startled confusion as to his origin, but came up empty handed. Jack suddenly noticed her.

"Hey, Sam, what's up?"

"Oh, nothing really," She lied, watching him clean the scratch on the young man's arm, "I'll come back later when you're not so busy."

"Ah, ah, ah. Not so fast. Something's wrong?"

"Oh, no, not at all. I'll talk to you about it later." She maintained, suddenly believing coming to Jack with her 'going crazy' theory was not such a good idea.

"Get back here." He demanded good naturedly, and quickly finished tending to his patient before turning to Cherry. "What is it?"

"Well, you see…I have multiple defects. I know what I saw in the jungle, those snakes, they weren't real. But I know I've seen things that were real. Like the boulder, and what I saw in Sawyer."

"What, what did you see in Sawyer?"

"I watched his life, like a movie, play in his eyes." Cherry laughed at herself, and the blank expression on Jack's face. "See, crazy, I know. But that's not all. I'm hearing things now, too. I hear what people are thinking, in my mind."

"Sam, I know we've all been under a lot of stress-"

"Jack, you're not listening to me! I-" Cherry was, in turn, interrupted this time. But not by Jack. A woman's shriek from close by pierced the air. Before Cherry's mind could even process what was happening, Jack was running toward the sound. Cherry followed him quickly. A scene unfolded before her eyes.

A man was lying on his back, on the ground, trembling, seemingly having a heart attack. A woman held his head in her lap, stroking his face and crying. Jack gently eased her out of the way and asked calm questions to the frantic woman.

Cherry stood back, a look of utter pain encompassing her features. The chaos that rattled in her ears was deafening. She clamped her hands over her ears, as if it would drown out the sounds of the woman's hysteric shrieks and questions that echoed in her head.

Jack had someone retrieve a bag from the caves for him, and now held a bottle of pills in his hand. Cherry read the label, and the chaos in her mind ceased. A horrible feeling weighted her like lead, and her throat felt closed. She put her hands to her neck and gasped.

"Stop!" Cherry's shrill voice quieted the woman's questions. "Don't give him that antibiotic! He's allergic. He'll have a reaction and his throat will swell shut!" She informed him quickly, kneeling next to him. Jack looked in confusion from her to the woman. He asked her if it was true. She didn't seem to hear him. She just cried for him to help and wailed for her husband, who was grunting in pain, squeezing his eyes shut. Jack asked her again, but she would not answer. So, he shook pills from the bottle.

"Jack, no! He'll die if you give him those pills!"

"What if you're wrong? He'll die if I don't!" Jack replied fervently, his eyes intensely boring into her.

"I'm not wrong." She whispered, but Jack's confused expression quickly set in determination, and he gave the man the pills. Cherry breathed a sigh of defeat, and set her eyes shut, listening to the sounds of pain from the man. But, when the sounds began to cease, the scuffling of his shoes on the rock became quieter and nonexistent, Cherry's eyes opened again. Jack checked his vitals, and smiled at the woman who was frantically looking between the men before her. She laughed in relief. Cherry looked quizzically at the scene. She wasn't wrong. She knew it. There was something so wrong about giving that man those pills. Something that shouldn't happen. Jack turned to her with a half smile.

"You were."

"Yeah, I guess I was." She said softly, still in disbelief, but smiled. So she was wrong. Maybe it was a good thing. Maybe the things that were happening to her would stop. The man wouldn't die of allergic reaction or heart attack.

But a strangled cry and a shriek of terror brought everyone's attention again to the man on the ground. He was clutching his throat and wheezing, his face turning red quickly, and veins from his face growing large. Jack hesitated over him in panic.

Cherry's mouth hung open. She'd seen this happen already. She squeezed her eyes shut and turned away, a tear dropping onto the ground by her feet. She knew how this would end.

* * *

Cherry had leaned her back against a large rock when an exhaustion so overwhelming grasped her. She hadn't left cave town yet. Jack told her to stay put so he could deal with one crisis before sorting out things with her. She was thinking hard, concentrating, training herself to shut out the voices that always droned in the back of her mind when a different voice was heard. Clearer, and she knew it was real. She looked up to see the woman standing before her. The one who was there when the man collapsed. 

"How did you know?" She began frankly, her face still stained with wet tears. Cherry didn't have to ask what she was talking about.

"I just knew."

"How?" She demanded, her patience wearing thin. Cherry didn't blame her. And she wasn't going to lie to her or give her any more vague answers. She deserved the truth. Or what Cherry believed to be true, anyway.

"Well," She began, unsure of where to start. But, start she did. And she told her the whole story. She told her crazy story to a woman whose name she didn't even know. Afterwards, Cherry decided it wasn't the best idea in the world, but she had been overcome with sympathy for the woman. She felt her sadness, in the very deepest reaches of her soul, she felt the pain that emanated from the woman.

The sun was setting when Jack left the grave. He helped bury the man he could've saved, and let Claire comfort his wife. This guilt was, unfortunately, not unknown to him. To lose someone whose life had been put in your hands, to disappoint someone who trusted you with the life of a loved one. To feel a person's soul slip away, just out of your reach. If he'd just listened to Cherry.

Cherry.

He thought about her as he walked to the main caves. She couldn't honestly believe she could read people's minds. All of a sudden, out of the blue, she can know things and hear things. He didn't understand. Yeah, it was strange, the things she knew, but it could all have a rational explanation. He'd just have to work it out with her. He was tired. He was hurt, defensive, and before he could begin by asking her opinion of the phenomenon, she spoke as he walked up to her.

"I'm sorry, Jack."

"No. Don't do that. You can't comfort me if you don't know how it feels. And don't try to pretend that you do." He warned, jaw clenched.

"But, Jack, I do. I can feel it. You feel so responsible. But it wasn't your fault. I don't blame you for not believing me, you did what any good doctor would have done. You would've saved his life, too, but he had a one in a million condition that his wife was too traumatized to let you know about. Please don't beat yourself up over this. You tried, you did your best, and it wasn't your fault. Let it go."

"Do you really think you feel what I feel? Do you really think you're psychic?" He asked contemptuously. Cherry smiled humorlessly at his misdirected malice before it drained from her face and she began her theory gravely.

"This place exists on a different wavelength than the rest of the world."

"What are you talking about?"

"It makes sense. Before, none of this ever happened to me. And all of a sudden, I hear them, I see things. Their pasts, their futures, it all exists in them. They carry it all around them on this wavelength. Now the shock of the crash is worn off, I'm realizing I'm in tune with it. Something is off with my brain that I can translate this wavelength. I can pick up the signals the people are unwittingly putting out onto it. Full complete thoughts from somewhere completely other than myself are so clear. They're like movies of someone else's lives played in my head. Sometimes it's just a feeling, sometimes I see it, sometimes I hear it. Sometimes I'm there."

Jack was stunned into silence. He'd have thought she was kidding, but for the deathly serious look in her intense green eyes. "Sam, what you're saying is impossible. There's no such thing as ESP, or mind reading."

"Or polar bears on a tropical island, I get it. Things happen here, on this island. Things that don't happen in the rest of the world. If there are invisible monsters in the jungle like people say, why is it so impossible that my brain is reading a different wavelength that carries around people's thoughts?"

"You've thought this through a lot." Jack stated after a pause.

"Didn't sleep last night." Cherry shrugged with a shy smile.

She'd gotten relatively good at blocking out the chaotic roar of 44 people's thoughts in her own mind by the next morning. Though it was harder when she was closer to them. So, she usually kept her distance. But, certain necessities rendered complete isolation impossible. She walked a straight line for water and food, through the people. Her temples began to ache by the time she reached the cooler, which was all the way across camp. The effort she was putting into blocking out the thoughts, coupled with the thoughts that trickled through, gave her quite the throbbing headache.

She snatched her share of sustenance and, as she was making her way back off to her solitary spot down the beach, she noticed how the people parted for her. They walked away as she passed by. Her pace unintentionally slowed as she looked around in confusion. Why were they afraid of her? Curiosity got the better of her, and she walked slowly as she let in their thoughts, and attempted to pick out one to read clearly. She smiled sullenly then, and looked straight ahead as she walked away from the people, whom she knew were staring at her warily and whispering to each other.

She heard Jack coming before he was even in earshot.

"Sit down, doctor." She said, when he was a few paces away. He complied.

"The people are talking. Apparently, they're all convinced you're psychic. It's got them in a regular upheaval. They seem…a little scared of you, actually."

"Everyone has secrets." She said absently, running her fingers over her lip, and staring out to sea.

* * *

I loved tonight's episode when the baby would calm down every time he heard Sawyer's voice. THough i must say, his voice has the opposite effect on me. Every time he speaks, I just get all hot and bothered. LOL. And now that I know Sayid was in Aus. to find Nadia, I'm confused as to why he was all over Shannon... And that Locke hit Sayid when he was doing his transciever thing! I always suspected he did it, and i'm glad they clarified that for us. I'm also glad Locke did not die. An eye for an eye only leads to more blindness. 

Thanks everybody! Love you, and I mean it!

**Freckles-101  
Moon's Tear  
Flute Marcher  
Eclypse  
Orlando's Hot Chick  
Skyblue266  
Dark-Angel 206**

Austin B.


	6. Day 6 Something Strange

Day 6  
"Something Strange"

The alienation had grown worse during the day. They stole sideways glances at her, but refused to make eye contact. Whispered to each other about her, but never spoke to her. Kept as big of a distance between themselves and her as possible when she passed by. The only ones who didn't seem to fear her were the four that were with her the very first day she blacked out and had a vision. Jack, Kate, Sayid, and Sawyer. The first three made a point to talk to her to make her feel like part of the group, still, and accepted. The latter, talked to her because he knew she was the only one who wouldn't shy away from his company. She needed conversation with people too much to push him away just because he was an ass.

"Hey there, Cherry Pie." He quipped, coming to stand next to her. She didn't need to see the crooked smile to know it was there, putting dimples onto his cheeks. A vision of a waterfall suddenly jumped into her mind as she felt his warmth near her side.

"Do you really think I haven't heard that a million times?" She asked with a chuckle.

"No, but you hadn't heard it from me." His cologne curled around her, and for a moment she heard the roar of water rushing past her head.

"Something tells me it won't be the last time, either."

"You got that right." The sly grin quickly dissipated from his features, however. After a pause, he asked, "What do you know about me? What did you see in my eyes that day on the beach?" His voice sounded so intent, it caused Cherry to turn and look at him. She took a moment to decide whether she should tell him or not. When he heard what she knew about him, would he push her away? Would he be embarrassed to have unwittingly shared all his secrets with her?

It didn't matter. She was sick of lying. She didn't like having secrets of her own, there was too much of that going on, and if she held back another secret from everyone, she'd burst.

"I saw you writing that letter. The one you carry in your pocket. You were crying. I saw you pulling a job, I saw you walking away. Because of the boy. Because you saw yourself in him. And no matter how much you tell yourself you don't care, you didn't want what happened to you to happen to anyone else."

Sawyer furrowed his brow, looking almost angry with her. Then the expression suddenly dissolved into one of indifference. "Well gee, I guess you really got me figured out." He began after a stunned pause, with a slightly malicious undertone. Cherry knew what he was going to say next, and she stopped him.

"No, I don't. Not in the least as a matter of fact. I don't know nearly a sliver of what makes you who you are. I only know what I see, I only feel what I feel. I can't understand why you became him. He embodied everything you despised. Everything you swore was evil. Tell me why." She begged the last in a whisper.

"How did this turn into an interrogation? I'm not the one on trial here." Sawyer barked.

"And I am? We should call this island Salem!"

"You have to admit, the things you're claiming aren't exactly easily believable."

"How else could I know about you the things that I do? You want more proof? Okay, your first girlfriend's name was Alison Gaines. The husky your family owned was fifteen years old when it got hit by a truck in front of your house. Your bedroom was wallpapered in baseball cards, and the very last time the words 'I love you' left your mouth was to your mother, the last time you hugged her that day."

"I…" He breathed, wide eyes staring at her. He'd never been the kind to believe in ghosts, or anything of the sort. He was a realist. Only what he could see with his eyes. But this…was something completely different. He knew how closely he held his secrets. There was only a handful of people in the world who knew him so completely as Cherry seemed to now. And he hadn't even explained any of these things to her. That was the scary part. She just knew. He didn't have to admit he was wrong, he didn't have to tell her he cheated on his biology test. She already knew. He wouldn't have to get up the strength to hurt his pride and hear the words out loud.

Sawyer let out a drawn breath as he plopped onto the sand, running a hand through his hair.

"This kind of thing is pretty hard to take in."

"I know." Cherry replied softly as she sat beside him. Sawyer looked to her, with her gentle smile, and understanding eyes. She was the one being alienated, and was comforting him. How does one become so selfless?

"I'm sorry." He said, before he had even realized it.

"It's okay. I'm used to you being a jerk." She chuckled, but Sawyer only smiled and shook his head, quickly becoming serious again.

"No, I mean…I'm sorry. For all of this. This thing that came to you, the people being afraid. And me being a jerk, of course." He added the last part just to see her pretty smile.

Surprisingly, Cherry sat and talked with Sawyer for another hour or so, until the sun began to set. She knew he didn't want to leave her. He only made up that lame excuse because he didn't want her to think he liked her too much. And she chose not to remind him of her ability to hear his thoughts. It would've been too embarrassing for him. So, as the silence came, the voices slowly became more and more clear. Cherry meandered down the beach. The good mood Sawyer had put her in was wearing off as she realized the distance did not change the volume of the voices.

Cherry sat in the sand, as far away from camp as she was willing to go in the dark. It was there, with the breeze to help clear her mind, that she realized just how scared she really was. It had always been there, in the back of her mind, but only after Sawyer left her could she recognize the fear returning. There was a vulnerability to her situation, one she did not like. Anything could happen to her. She could die, she could go into a coma, become a vegetable. But no matter what, something was going to happen. And it wouldn't be pretty.

Somehow, lying close to the ocean lulled her into a fitful sleep, to escape the harsh reality and pain throbbing in her head.

She woke with a jerk, and recalled the sensation of utter helplessness, of falling into the abyss. Her eyes would not focus in the dark when she opened them. The pain immediately crashed upon her twice as intense as before she'd fallen into what she thought would be a healing sleep.

The noise…it was all deafening. Some of it was static. A terrible, scratchy white noise that filled her head. Though it drowned out everyone else's thoughts, it also was ten times as distracting, and painful. The distance she put between herself and camp during the day didn't seem to matter. The noise seemed slowly to follow her. Like an incoming tide, ebbing closer and closer. No matter how far she went, it would catch up with her.

Frustrated, pained, confused and angry, Cherry did something unexpected even to her. Without a thought to direction, or consequences of it, she stood and ran. Like she'd never run before. Like she felt like doing when the doctor informed her and her mother of Cherry's inoperable brain tumor.

When she collapsed, somewhere in the jungle, she cried, like she hadn't done since the first time she was diagnosed. Like she wanted to when the doctor told her the chance of her surviving it this time was slim.

And she felt cold. A cold that matched the hopelessness and death she felt when she first realized what was causing the heaviness in her body, and the headaches and dizziness. Her body shivered.

She knelt, sitting back onto her heels, with her hands braced on her things, head hung as she caught her breath. Biting back tears, her body shook from the force of the fear and anger. Suddenly, her breath stilled. A curious sensation touched her soul. No fear, sadness or anger. She was unsure why, but knew only that the answer lie somewhere…up. So, she slowly tilted her head up to the sky, to see a single, white flake floating carelessly down. It passed in front of her face, and she followed it with her eyes, as it landed on her knee. There, it sat for a moment, before the heat of her body melted it into a small wet dot on her blue jeans. Her eyes were narrow as she stared at it. She reached out to it with her finger to see if it was real. Her fingertip ran across the drop of water on her pants. Cherry furrowed her brow, and began to ponder on how it was possible.

Then, the coldness blew over her again with increased ferocity, and her heart felt frozen in her chest. She gasped for breath, clutching her chest and leaning backward. She shifted her feet out from under her and lay back onto the ground, looking up at the patch of early morning sky through the rising trees around her.

Why was He doing this to her? What had she done in her life that was so terrible? To be punished by a slow, agonizing death, riddled with voices in your head and imaginations of snakes and snowflakes. To be alienated, discriminated, judged by those who didn't know her or the confusion and torment running through her.

Was Jack right? Was she imagining this cold? Was she creating the voices in her own head, and the images of Sawyer, Sayid, and the man who collapsed? Was it a coincidence that her visions of Sayid and the man's allergies were true? She willed her body to be warm again, to ignore the tricks her mind was playing on her. But she still felt it biting her skin, as real as the ground she lay on.

Her brow stitched painfully. The pain of confusion and frustration, and the frostbite that seemed to be nipping at her extremities, and icing her bones.

Someone shouted her name, but it was fuzzy and far away. Then she heard it again, the same voice, shouting her name, but clearer and closer. His face was above her, eyes beseeching and worrisome. His hair hanging like blonde icicles above her.

"James." She wasn't sure why she whispered that name at first. But as his eyes widened, she remembered. Like pinpointing the reason for de ja vu. Like waking up and remembering the dream you just had.

The thought was pushed to the back of her mind, however, as the frost blew over her again. "James." She said again, as if to urge him to help her. But what could he do? He touched her face, but pulled away quickly as if her skin had hurt him. But, warily, he reached for her hands, which were clutching the clothing at her chest. His hands were so warm. He pulled her up to a sitting position, and sat beside her, his arms wrapped around her. It was like she was surrounded in an atmosphere of her own. An ozone layer eighty degrees colder than the tropical climate of the island. When he held her, he invaded her atmosphere, and felt the air around her get cold.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Something strange is happening." He heard her teeth chattering as she replied calmly, the warmth of her breath causing steam to curl from her lips as if she was in the middle of a harsh winter and it was ten below.

"_Why is this happening?" She whispered to her empty hotel room, staring at her packed bags in the corner from her position, sitting on the bed. She didn't want to leave. She didn't want to go back home, and see the worry and fright in her mothers eyes, face the needles, the cameras, the bad news she knew would surely come. As if her mind had no control over her body, she rose. Gathered her bags, and was at the airport before she knew it. _

_The people pushed past her. They were so oblivious to everyone around them. Their rushing figures blurred by. A moment of clarity suddenly dawned on her. Everything seemed so simple in that moment. What happens, happens. The world is cruel. Coincidences, random acts of genetics. Everyone was in this terminal by pure chance. She would never be here in this moment again. She shouldn't go back home. She should live her life and her dreams free of the chains of treatment and the burdens that came with it. _

_But somehow, she was on the plane. Her mother was drawing her home. Something was drawing her. Cherry breathed a long breath. Utter despair clamped her heart. She knew she shouldn't be on this plane. A man ushered his son past her, and apologized as he bumped her with his luggage. She smiled hollowly, and had to clamp her hand over her mouth to repress the sudden burst of nausea that rose in her. The cabin was hot and close, though no one else felt it. She was about to stand and rush off the plane, but they had begun to roll down the runway. Fear gripped her. This was the moment that would ruin her, she felt it in her very bones. If she did not leave the plane, if she went back to America, she would not be happy. She would live in misery. She would die. But, she dug her nails into the armrests, telling herself she shouldn't be here, but knowing all the while, she wouldn't get off the plane. Even if she had the chance.

* * *

_

"I'm telling you, Jack, it's true. I saw it! She's not hallucinating!"

"There is no feasible explanation."

"And that means it didn't happen?"

"It means maybe you thought you saw or felt something that really wasn't there."

Sawyer scoffed. "I imagined a temperature drop of eighty degrees? I imagined the fog from her breath? And I suppose she imagined Sayid getting rolled over by the boulder before it happened?"

"Now, boys, no need to fight over little old me." Her voice came from the tent flap, where she was supposed to be resting. Both were a bit speechless.

"Tell him, Cherry. Tell him something you couldn't know. Prove it to him." Sawyer egged, stepping quickly to her side.

"Don't be juvenile, Sawyer. Come into the tent, and we'll talk about this." She said diplomatically, and Sawyer huffily followed Jack inside. "I know it's hard to wrap your mind around, but what's happening to me is real."

"I don't doubt that. It's your explanation of it that is so outlandish. You may have a condition that makes you cold, I don't know. Here, we don't have the instruments to tell."

"Nothing's outlandish about it, Jack! If you would just open your mind a little and not be such a hard ass all the time, maybe you'd have enough trust to believe me." She growled, suddenly angrily.

"Look, Sam," he started softly, "the sooner we rule out as many possibilities as we can, the sooner we can find out what is really causing these hallucinations."

"They're not hallucinations!" She shouted immediately, then grit her teeth. To hell with being juvenile. "Fine. You want proof? I'll give you some." Cherry growled. She wasn't sure how it really worked, but had a feeling proximity had something to do with it. So, she breathed to steady herself, and stepped into Jack, so there was only an inch of distance between them. Sawyer furrowed his brow for a moment. Cherry took his hands in hers, hanging at his side. Her eyes closed involuntarily, as images flashed brightly before her eyes.

Against the backdrop of a blue sky, Jack looked down, screaming something to her, concern and fear in his face. In a flash of white, an image of him as a boy came into clear view. He was being scolded by his father. Another flash. He spoke with the board of the hospital. Another flash. Jack was crying over his father's body in the morgue.

Her eyes flew open, and Jack held her shoulders, his face so close, eyes so searching. Though her eyes were open, another white flash blinded her, and a few random memories from Jack assaulted her. She held her hands to the sides of her face, and stepped back, overwhelmed. The smell of fires on the beach became suddenly powerful.

She saw Sawyer advancing on her, and he pushed himself between her and the doctor, obviously concerned. But when she looked at his eyes, she was flashed with his memories. The waterfall. Roaring, rushing water. She glanced from Jack to Sawyer, each demanding to know if she was okay, and what was going on. Back and forth, memories from both the men alternated in painful flashes.

An involuntary scream of frustration escaped her, and she pushed them both away. She took a step back, and stumbled onto the ground.

"No! Stay away! Leave me alone!" She screamed, as they advanced upon her to help her stand again. They complied, and hung back warily. Her breathing was labored from journeying through both their pasts, though she didn't leave the tent.

"I'm sorry, Jack." She sobbed. "For what you had to do. No one should have to do that."

"Do what?" He breathed. Her eyes held too much pity, too much depth of knowledge for comfort.

"Search for him. Only to find him like that."

Jack just narrowed his eyes, lips slightly apart, trying to understand. After a moment of stunned silence, he turned and left.

* * *

Cherry had gulped down her second bottle of water and tossed the empty bottle aside, dejected. Her throat was still dry. 

The sun was halfway set. Jack hadn't spoke to her since she saw him in the tent, only a few hours ago. She squinted down the beach, shielding her eyes from the sun. In truth, it wasn't that bright. Someone was coming toward her.

"Howdy stranger." He called, and she smiled.

"Hey."

"What're you doin all the way down here?"

"Trying to get some quiet."

"Ah, I see. Sorry, am I too loud?" He asked, gesturing to his skull.

"No. You're perfectly silent."

He scowled at her, and gently socked her in the arm with a grin before sitting down next to her.

"What do you think's going to happen?" He asked, curiously. With concern, she noted with a faint smile.

"I don't know. But I can't help thinking, it's not going to be happening for very long."

"What do you mean?"

"I was in Australia because I was running away. I needed a vacation before going back for treatment." She paused to find words.

"Treatment?" He repeated, not understanding. "For what?"

"I-" She began, but her breath caught in her throat as her heart was gripped by an icy hand. "Oh no." She whispered, recognizing the feeling. He was thinking of her.

Her emotions. Frazzled, though she covered it well to the outside world. Sawyer's concern, so blatantly obvious to her, with her unique ability, though he attempted to cover it. Jack's intense desire to heal and help everyone, his curiosity and concern for her. Kate's secrets, Sayid's past, Charlie's pain…it was all there. Jack's thoughts had turned to her, and she felt it. And, as if a dam had been broken, her concentration on shutting everyone's thoughts out was shattered, and they all flooded in.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. The white flashes before her. The water falling over the cliff into the void. Kate, Charlie, Hurley, Sayid, Jack, Sawyer, Sun…everyone was there. A scene of their lives flew by one at a time, and she knew it all.

It was too much. She was strong, but the events of the past days weakened her, and even at her best, at the best of the best person in the world, no one would've withstood it. It swept her away, and she just let go. Stopped trying to control it. Stopped worrying about what would happen to her. She was too overwhelmed and too pained to mind if anyone would take care of it for her.

"Cherry!" Sawyer's voice was muffled and far away. "Someone help! Jack get over here!"

She had stiffened where she sat, and it seemed her chest didn't move to intake a breath for a long time. Her eyes rolled back in her head, as they had the day she blacked out on the beach. But this time, she fell back onto the sand, and her body convulsed violently.

He called for help, and frantically attempted to hold her still. It seemed hours until Jack arrived. Though the doctor would later confess it was only a matter of seconds.

"Turn her on her side and hold her arms." Jack instructed, and Sawyer complied. Jack himself held her head steady, and tied a strip of his shirt around her bottom jaw, to keep her from biting her tongue.

* * *

Kate satin the doorwaythe tent, biting her nails, staring into space. Jack kept the cloth onCherry's forehead cool, and looked at her pupils again and again. Sawyer hung back, in a corner of the tent. Hands folded across his chest, watching her. Willing her to wake and be okay. 

But no such relief would come to pass. Not for several, tense hours. Kate didn't move from her post. Neither did Sawyer. In sort of a sentinel brotherhood, an understanding rose between them as they watched over the woman that held their hearts. Jack came and went, keeping busy to hide his worry and his confusion,until finally retiring to the caves late in the evening. All three practically held baited breaths, minds mulling over the even more impossible events that had surrounded them since knowing Cherry. After debating to themselves each, the same thoughts of optimism finallyran through their heads.

Maybe the next rising sun would bring some answers.

* * *

So I had just about the worst day of my life today. AP Government test, boyfriend troubles, and... that's about it, but it was definitely enough to ruin my day. -sighs in self pity- Don't you worry about me, though. I'll befine. I'll just go hook up with Orlando Bloom. He called me last night, but I denied him because I had a boyfriend. Looks like that's been taken care of, hey? ha, i wish. 

The glass is half full, the glass is half full, the glass is half full...

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong. - Lord Byron

**Freckles-101, Solitary Fan, Moon's Tear, Starshollow108**

**Eclypse** - Did you see tonight's episode? I don't want to ruin it for you yet if you didn't, because of your stupid swim practice, so I'll talk to you later about it. But turns out, I think I might be psychic. Ja, mata

**Dark Angel206** - Every time Charlie says Turnip Head I just lose it. And his song called 'Monster ate the Pilot' I pretty much lost it when he said that, too. Charlie's just an all around funny guy.

Austin B.


	7. Day 7 Providence

Day 7  
"Providence"

Her eyes snapped open, and palm trees greeted her vision. The breeze was cool, and the sun was hot on her face. She stood, gazing around camp. But no one was to be found. Somehow, she took no heed, and was rather relieved, in fact. She liked it better when she was by herself, anyway.

But, the feel of a person behind her dashed those dreams. Hands held her shoulders tightly, lovingly, and she felt lips through her hair, kissing the back of her neck. She spun quickly, in confusion, to find Sawyer standing there. Her furrowed brow deepened.

"What're you doing?" She asked curiously.

"I just want to find paradise." Was his cryptic answer. He leaned down to kiss her lips before disappearing down the beach. She was too shocked for a moment. Her fingertips hovered over her lips, where his had rested moments before. They still tingled, were still warm from the touch of his soft kiss.

Her mind reeled. She turned slowly at the sound of her name from behind her.

"Cherry…" His tremulous voice called. Jack stood there.

"Jack. Where is everyone?"

"They're dead." He answered simply.

"What?"

"It's just me, now."

"But I just saw Sawyer."

"No. He was the first to die. He only wanted to save you. But once they took him, they knew everything. And one by one, all the rest disappeared. Ah, here they come for me, now. Please, don't try to stop them. You'll just get hurt. And right now all she needs is rest and plenty of water…" Jack's voice grew louder and louder, as he drifted further from her into the jungle, toward the darkness that had been brooding there.

Her eyes flew open. The brightness of the dim tent made her squeeze her eyes closed again, and bring a hand to her head. Her groan of agony brought Jack from his conversation with those others in the tent, and he leaned over her.

"Sam…hey, can you hear me?" He whispered.

"Yes. For the love of Pete, everyone in China can hear you, too. Lower your voice." She demanded softly, still shielding her face from reality.

"You gave us quite a scare." Came Sawyer's voice from somewhere above her. She tilted her head back to catch an upside down glimpse of him, smirking at her. Though his dimpled grin was less genuine. It held a darker edge to it. Still, the sight of him brought her relief. He wasn't dead. And Kate's voice reassured her that she wasn't either.

"How do you feel?" The woman asked.

"Like my brain's been shoved in a blender." She answered with a groan, eliciting a small chuckle from those around her. Jack apparently said some quiet words to the others, because the tent flap opened and closed, and there was one less voice mumbling incoherent words inside her head. A strong, warm hand touched her hair, the tent flap opened again, and there was only Jack.

"Look at me." He demanded. His voice less gentle than she knew he was. So, she complied, sitting up with much effort to still her pounding head. Jack knelt in the sand opposite her. "Do you have a condition I should know about?" He asked, knowing the answer. It was the only feasible explanation. She had to have something previously wrong with her that was making these things happen. Still, his breath was held baited, and he closed his eyes involuntarily in grief when she answered.

"Yes." Her eyes locked with his again, her resoluteness disturbing. "Cancer. A tumor in my brain. I beat it twice, already. Not that it didn't take something from me, just not my life. But, third time's the charm, as they say." She grinned humorlessly, but it faded under Jack's unrelenting stare, as he considered this information.

"How serious is it?"

"Pretty serious. I only felt it a week before I was diagnosed, and Dr. Jacobs said it had grown quite large. It's been a month since then. I can't imagine how much it's grown."

"I'm sorry." He said softly after a hesitant pause.

"Everyone's sorry." She replied just as soft, but with a contemptuous undertone.

_She stood in dark red leaves up to her ankles. The autumn breeze ruffled her hair and invaded under her collar, causing her to shiver. Thorns from the red rose she held pressed into her palm, but she could barely feel it. So she squeezed onto it harder._

"_It's your fault." She began, the sound of her voice feeling unnatural to her ears in the silence of the cemetery, amidst the rustling of leaves and whistling of wind through the near bare branches. "It's what you had. Look where you ended up. You're going to kill me."_

_Her voice was smooth and calm. She stared at the drab gray stone. She clenched her jaw, and felt a warm streak down her face. The wind cooled it immediately. Suddenly, she dropped to her knees, her determined cold face breaking down to show her pain, fear and frustration. She pounded the ground with her fists, leaning her forehead against the cool leaves on the ground. _

"_It's all your fault!" She shrieked over and over. When her tears ran dry, she sat back onto her heels, holding the rose in her lap again. Her eyes traced the carved lines of the words on the tombstone. She tossed the bloody rose in front of her, and took no heed of the cuts on her palm. _

"_You're going to kill me, dad." She whispered again. _

_Samuel Whittaker  
__Beloved husband and father  
__Taken from us  
__Far too soon_

Jack had been with her most of the day. Sawyer had planned to go in to see her when she was alone, but Jack came straight from the tent to where he and Kate sat, around a nearby fire, though it was still quite early in the morning.

"How is she?" Kate immediately asked, taking the words from Sawyer's lips.

"She's trying to be okay. She's trying to seem strong. But she's not. She has a brain tumor." He scoffed, "That was what made her see all those things. Not dehydration, not reading the island's wavelength. She was delirious and hallucinating." Jack thought he had the answer to the mystery that was Cherry. And it disappointed him. He was nearly convinced she, through some unexplained phenomenon, could in fact read thoughts not her own.

There was a stunned pause. Neither could believe it. She did everything the other castaways did. Picking up firewood, complaining about boar meat, scaling trees to find fruit. How could she have had a brain tumor all that time? And how could no one have known?

"Or maybe having the tumor made her able to read things." Kate offered softly, staring into the fire. The reason for the heat that sprung in her gut, and the intense need to defend the ill woman was unknown to her. Neither of the men said anything.

Sawyer stood. The silence had become grating. Jack had sat with Kate, and they were talking in hushed tones.

"Knock, knock. Hey, Cherry Pie, you decent?" He quipped, but when there was no answer, he pushed back the tent flap anyway, and entered. But a quick scan revealed that she was not there. The structure of the back wall of the tent was disrupted, and the sand displaced under the thin wall of blue tarp. She escaped out the back? Why? Sawyer stormed from the tent, shouting for Jack.

* * *

She strolled through the jungle, like a woman in the park, without a care in the world. The birds sang, the wind rustled the trees, and all else was utterly, beautifully silent. It was a perfect place to die. 

Of course, she had known it for days. No one here could do anything for her, anyway, so why worry them with the knowledge? Though this place was beautiful, her only regret was that she wouldn't get to die at home, where she belonged, with her mother holding her hand.

Through the open places, through dense vegetation, she strolled. Reaching out to touch the bark of trees, and picking a pretty white flower to tuck behind her ear. She was peaceful.

But a sound from her mind jerked her from her reverie. It was Sawyer's voice, beseeching any higher power to let him find her. To bring her back safely to camp. To see her just once more, and get the chance to kiss her. Cherry crouched behind a tree when the real sounds of snapping twigs reached her ears. Sawyer emerged from the brush, panting like a dog, his face twisted in concentration and determination. She smiled, and turned her eyes to the sky for a moment before stepping out into the clearing. Sawyer's eyes snapped to her, and he made to rush for her, but slowed his steps.

"How the hell did you walk so far so fast? And why aren't you tired?" He asked incredulously.

"I didn't smoke half of my life."

Sawyer nodded, agreeing. And in an action that surprised both present, threw his arms around her and held her body to his gently. After a moment, she wrapped her arms around his torso, and held him when he would have released her.

"Why did you leave?" He asked, after pulling away, his breath finally returning to him.

"I didn't want you to see me like this."

"Like what?"

"Dying."

"If anything, dying has made you more beautiful. That deathly pallor brings out your eyes." He added, and Cherry grinned, turning her eyes from his bright blue ones for a moment. "Please come back with me."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me." He demanded, taking another step closer, decreasing the already miniscule space between their bodies.

"If I go back there, I won't be there long anyway. I'd rather be here, alone in silence with the beauty of nature, part of where I belong. In silence I can imagine the other part, too."

"Where is that?"

"Home." She answered, her eyes gazing far away. "I know how they'll look at me. I know how they'll treat me. I want to live the last hours as a person, not a patient or a lab rat. I want to die with dignity."

Sawyer's brow stitched in sorrow. How was she so strong in the face of all this? It seemed like it was hurting him even more than her. He breathed, looking at his feet, to gather himself before looking back up to her.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah. I'll leave you alone. And, Cherry…" He said, after taking a step away from her.

"Yes, Sawyer?" She answered into his blue eyes.

"I'll miss you."

She had been peaceful. He shattered her heart, as he turned his sad eyes away.

"Wait." She whispered, and he turned around once again, watching her walk to him. "I think if you stayed with me, it would be better. If you don't mind, that is."

He smiled, and took her hands, which were folded in front of her, and kissed both of them. So, they walked through the jungle together, fingers intertwined, in companionable silence. She smiled at the things he thought. It seemed big bad Sawyer really did have a heart.

But Sawyer's thoughts soon became garbled in her mind. Others were near. And she felt their evil. She stopped cold.

"What is it?"

"Don't you hear them?"

"Hear who?"

"They're whispering." She said softly, and turned her head, closing her eyes, as if to hear more clearly. Her jaw dropped in horror, and her brow furrowed before she snapped her lids open. "We need to get out of here."

He didn't ask why. He just drug her behind him, and ran. They stormed and crashed through the jungle, batting leaves from their faces and dodging branches. Until they came to a dead end. Completely enclosed by sheer cliffs. But for one small aperture to the left. Cherry ducked through it, and Sawyer followed. It opened up on the other side to a narrow ledge, leading out beside a crashing waterfall. She vaguely recognized the unique sound of the tall drop and the reverberations from the stone walls.

The wall beneath them dropped into abyss, and the waterfall that shot from the sheer wall five feet to their right cast a mist of water vapor into the air so thick, the bottom of the drop could not be seen. Sawyer pressed himself against the wall, looking warily at the intense fall. A wrong move and he could be sent plummeting to his death.

She crouched there, and Sawyer followed suit. They watched the aperture in the rock, and the jungle on the other side of them. Maybe they would pass by. Their malice grew nearer, and for the horror of it, Cherry cried out, clamping her hands over her ears, and squeezing her eyes shut, rocking gently in a comforting motion. Sawyer held her, and said into her ear,

"Stay right here. I'm going to see."

Cherry latched onto his arm before he could get out of her reach. "No! They'll kill you!"

"I'll lead them away from you." He turned again, but she jerked him down. He couldn't die. Jack had told her he would, and she couldn't let that happen. Because then all the others would die, too. She'd failed to save the man who collapsed in the caves, and she would not let that happen again. She knew what would happen, and so, she knew how to save him. This was the time Eva told her about. The time to use her knowledge to help. Everything suddenly clicked into place.

"Do you trust me?" She asked suddenly, bringing his gaze from the edge of the jungle, where the branches were seen rustling.

"What?"

"James! Do you?" She repeated, demanding.

"Yes."

She took his face in her hands and kissed his lips before grabbing his shoulders and throwing him from the cliff ledge. She watched his arms flail helplessly, face frozen in a contorted expression of terror and betrayal as he disappeared into the mist and roar of the waterfall. She looked scornfully to the aperture in the rock, where the whispers had become shouts, and where shadows had begun flickering on the walls.

"Go to hell." She snarled as she stood, and then leapt off the cliff edge as well.

Her heart lurched into her throat as she plummeted to an unknown fate. She was afraid, yet she was not. The feeling was naturally terrifying, yet, her mind knew that somehow it would be okay.

Her arm caught on the tree branch just above the bottom of the drop, and she swung there painfully, before Sawyer's hands pulled her onto the thick bough. They crawled down it, and gratefully set their feet on the earth. When Sawyer landed beside her, he immediately turned her forcefully to face him and held her close, catching her mouth under his. She kissed him back, long and deep. His life had been saved, and hers would end soon.

"Oh no." She breathed, when they pulled away. The fog that curled from her moist lips turned Sawyer's blood cold. "He's thinking of me again." She whispered, before collapsing into his arms.

* * *

The sun was sinking. She hadn't opened her eyes, but she could tell. She was in the tent, and Sawyer was holding her hand. Jack stood at the foot of the makeshift cot, and Kate hung back in the corner. All this, she could tell by the placement of their breaths, and the manner of their thoughts. They were idle. Restless. They all cared about her, and they were helpless in her situation. To know she caused this pain in them, a tear drizzled from the corner of her eye into her hair. 

"There's a reason, you know." She began suddenly, and all present started, and rushed to her side. She smiled up at their faces above her, and ignored the doctor's questions.

"There's always a reason, even for the bad things. You might not like it or agree with it, but we're all here for a purpose. Mine's fulfilled, now. I feel good. No one else will die. As long as you're careful. Never go far into the jungle, and keep away from the cliffs." She scolded mysteriously with a smirk. "Oh, and one more thing. Jack, you need to believe. I know it's hard, and it goes against everything you've ever been taught, and everything you promised yourself you wouldn't do, but you need to let go of logic, and just believe." She smiled up at them, and sighed, before closing her eyes. The last image her strikingly green eyes perceived was the look of those concerned faces. Sawyer's beautiful eyes. In her last breath, she whispered then, "Believe."

Jack felt her pulse, and hung his head. Kate clasped her hand over her mouth to muffle her cry and stepped back into the corner of the tent to sit and stare at the body of such a formerly vivacious woman.

Sawyer sat for a long time, there. Holding her hand. How could she be gone just like that? It happened so fast. Sawyer gently drew her hand to his lips, pressing a light kiss there.

He wandered from the tent. Everyone knew by now. It seemed eerily silent, but for the waves and the breeze. Sawyer sat, leaning against a tree, staring at the horizon. He didn't move for a long time.

Down the beach, up in the firm sand, a deep hole was dug. Hurley and Larry wiped tears from their eyes as they shoveled. Cherry was carried on a makeshift stretcher, wrapped tightly in a blanket. Sayid, Jack, Locke and Charlie carried her away. Sawyer followed slowly after, painful understanding evidently written on his expression. It was the first time he showed any signs of life after her passing.

_Cherry leaned against a tree, smiling, watching them lay her to rest. There were no voices in her head but her own, now. She smiled sadly at their stricken faces as she milled through the crowd to the front, and her body was lowered into the grave. She crouched and tossed in the first handful of dirt._

Eva set a hand on Sawyer's arm. He didn't start, just looked wearily to her, his blue eyes devoid of the sparkle they once held.

"She loved you." The old woman offered. Sawyer furrowed his brow gently.

"Is that what she said?"

Eva shook her head with a knowing smile, "She didn't say it, she told me."

Sawyer's brow furrowed deeper, until he realized what she meant, and his gratitude was written in his eyes. Cherry didn't have to say it, everything about her told Eva that she was a woman in love.

The somber atmosphere darkened his heart further. No sun shone that day, through the gray clouds that darkened the sky into an everlasting twilight. There were no tears shed, but for an old woman named Eva, whose face was calm, yet wet with salty sadness. Sayid looked curiously into her grave as she was covered in earth. Sawyer studied their faces, paled with grief. Hadn't enough sadness befallen them? Why take her from them? Everything would've been perfect, if only she'd have stayed.

The stars had risen, and he sat midway between the camp and where her grave was dug, as if he was not quite sure if he wanted to be with the others, or with her. His face was turned toward her grave.

"Sawyer." Cherry called him from behind, and he started, scrambling to his feet. He watched her walk slowly to him.

"Cherry? I don't understand." He asked, completely flabbergasted.

"You don't have to. Not right now. Don't think. I'm here now, for you. Tell me what you need to say." She was smiling sweetly, and her skin glowed unnaturally. Her clothes were clean and intact, her hair washed and gleaming. Sawyer felt compelled to speak, and words slipped from his mouth unintentionally.

"I wish you would've stayed here. You knew me without having to explain. That's the hardest part, and you just took it away. I could've…I did love you. I do."

Cherry slid a hand around the back of his neck, stepping into his embrace as she pulled him to her lips. He kissed her slowly, taking in every bit of her that he could before she drew back. "And I love you. But you have to let me go. This place will be your paradise. You've just got to open your heart and your mind, and let go of the pain that has held you for so long. You get a second chance, here. You get to start over."

"Don't say goodbye." He pled in a strangled voice, uninvited tears welling in his eyes.

"I have to." She cooed, and turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" He exclaimed, reaching out, not ready to let her go.

"Home." She whispered with a smile. With that, the leaves of the jungle swallowed her up. She disappeared, to her home, where she belonged. Sawyer watched the path she'd disappeared. She was gone. Really gone. Despite the depth of sorrow he felt piercing his heart, he was strangely happy. Yes he loved her, andhe let her go. There was no need to be sad, Cherry was where she wanted to be. _She_ was happy now. And for that, he dried his tears.

* * *

"She told me to believe." 

"I heard." Kate smiled faintly and approached him the rest of the way from behind and sat next to him.

"Doesn't it strike you as odd?" He asked, turning to her.

"Why would it?"

"What is there for me to possibly believe in? We're stranded on an island. No one's coming to get us, Kate. That's why." Jack explained fervently frustrated.

"She also said to let go of logic. I know it's hard to believe that there may be a reason that we're all here. But unless you believe, you will not understand."

"Oh, so you quote now." He smirked.

"What makes you think that wasn't an original?" Kate bantered.

"It was Saint Augustine."

"And a wise Saint he was." Kate smiled, but quickly grew somber. "I know I haven't exactly made things easy for you here, but I want you to know that without you, none of us could survive. Without you, I couldn't survive."

"You're wrong. Every time I see your face, things get easier." Jack breathed a chuckle at his intimacy and looked away. But when he saw her move nearer to him, he lifted his gaze to her again. She crouched close to him for a moment, just looking at him with a smile, and lazily watched her finger run up and down his jaw line. Then, flattening her palm against the side of his neck, she drew closer. But she hesitated for a moment. Jack's breath was baited, hitched in his throat. He wanted so bad to close the small gap between their lips and kiss her like he'd wanted to for weeks. But he was frozen. All he could do was watch her hesitantly draw closer and closer, until she pressed her mouth over his.

It was a chaste kiss, and she pulled back an inch. But Jack wore an expression she'd never seen on him before, and he pulled her by her hips quickly back to him. His arms were wrapped around her waist, and she held his chin up to allow access to his lips. He held her tight, and pulled her so she sat in his lap, legs wrapped around him.

It was exactly how he'd dreamt it would be. If not a little bit better.

Kate was tired. Tired of caring, tired of the sorrow. When she kissed him, she was wonderfully numb. She could be herself, let the consequences that may come, she could deal with it now, because she had him. She was strong with him. Her fingertips tingled. All she felt was warm. And perfectly at home. It was paradise.

* * *

R.I.P Samantha "Cherry" Parker 

So, it's over. Only 7 chapters, but this was a pretty long one, hey? I apologize for the incredibly corny 'Cherry comes backso Sawyer can tell her he loves her and be rid of his guilt' thing.It seemed like a good idea at the time.  
So you all get that her dad had died of a brain tumor, too, right? I hope I explained that well enough. I'm never sure about that sort of thing.  
Thiswas very much a one issue story, not like those great 30 chapter fanfiction novels I love. So this is your last chance to review. It won't take long and I promise it won't hurt, and it would do me a world of good to hear that you guys actually read it and followed me through to the end. Thanks for your encouragement. Kisses to you all.

Well, I didn't expect to get as much success from this one, it was more of a get-an-idea-off-my-mind story. So, I'm happy to get the reviews that I did.

**Moon's Tear** – I kind of hate killing off characters, but it made the story poignant in a way, you know? Anyway, tell me what you think about how I wrapped it all up.

**Dark Angel 206** – I know, I've thought a lot of times how bad I wished I could read people's thoughts. But when I wrote this story I kinda realized it'd pretty much suck if you couldn't control it. Sometimes it's better to know people from a distance than to get into their heads.

**Eclypse** – Be honest, and tell me what you thought of it. If it was rushed, if it…sucked, I want to know. (Who gets up at 530 in the morning anyway?...crazy….)

**A Wandering Minstrel** – Sadly, you have good instincts. Cherry is gone but not forgotten.

Austin B.


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